Spring Cleaning my TBR!

What I found when I went through my various TBRs is how excited I am to read a lot of the books on my TBR, which was a pleasant surprise, so even though I went through a huge amount of my TBR, I didn’t end up deleting as much as I expected. (I mostly justified this by the fact it usually takes quite a few mentions before a book ends up there in the first place)

I’m not including books I left on, because obviously I don’t need to be convinced to read them, but you know, I’m always amenable to persuasion when it comes to expanding my TBR, which totally defeats the whole point of this exercise 😉

Here’s the ones I removed without a second thought:

Like I said, I didn’t give that much thought to removing those, I simply reread the synopses and wasn’t too enamoured. If you’ve read any of the above and you were blown away, then do scream at me in the comments something to the effect of *YOU’RE MAKING A HUGE MISTAKE!*. Otherwise, let’s move onto the ones I was on the fence about:

Soundless– I’ve seen way too many negative reviews of this and I’ve had a million chances to read this book… it’s just not going to happen.

Follow Me Down– I do still want to check out the author, but preferably with a more popular book.

The Boy Book– I think I’ve got to face facts, as much as I was pleasantly surprised by the first one, I don’t see myself finishing the series ten years later. Besides, there’s newer, shinier books by the same author that I have on my kindle I’d much rather read.

Gathering Blue– this is the weirdest one to take off the TBR, considering the fact that I really liked the Giver. And yet, I’m not feeling the rest of the series anymore and I rarely read dystopia as it is, so I’m gonna leave it.

Ghost Hunter– I frickin’ loved this series when I was younger and I so wanted to finish it. Sadly, I lost track of the books coming out and I’ve forgotten most of what happened by now. Finishing the series would mean rereading all the others and I don’t see that happening. If one day I decide to reread it, I’ll add this to my tbr again.

Exit Unicorns– how cool is that title?! Unfortunately, even the place I originally saw this book wasn’t entirely positive about the book and I really haven’t seen anything good about it to justify reading it (aside from that being one of my favourite titles ever)

All the Lies We Tell– well, I was on the fence about this annnd then I saw the reviews- it’s a romance about a woman hooking up with her brother-in-law- NO THANKS.

The Love Interest– I was curious when I first heard about this- a book playing the love triangle trope sounds fun at least. Since it’s been released though, I’ve only seen reviews wavering between meh and ugh.

All the Wind in the World– admittedly I wavered over this one just because the cover is beautiful. I just haven’t heard enough about it- so maybe someday.

Trust Me, I’m Lying– honestly, it just doesn’t appeal that much. I also don’t know anyone that’s read it and don’t fancy being the guinea pig.

Okay- I’ll admit it, 20 is not a huge amount to delete from my TBR. BUT like I said, I realised there were just *a lot* of books I wanted to read when I did this! Have you tried reducing your TBR? How successful was it? And are there any books on here I should give a second look? Let me know in the comments!

Such a great post, and I’ve always wanted to do something like this! I love decluttering, and I need to declutter my TBR, especially the disorganised wishlist on my Book Depository that’s getting out of control. I have Gathering Blue in my TBR as well, I enjoyed The Giver but never got the push to continue with the series.

Thank you! Ahh I definitely get that- I like decluttering in general and I also have a wishlist (on amazon) that’s getting out of control too 😉 yeah I was the same- and now it’s years since I read the Giver and I just don’t see myself ever reading it.

Having read Gathering Blue I feel able to say you’ve made a good choice. I did a semi review (WWW 7th Feb) which could basically be summarised by saying ‘not worth keeping on TBR although still passable’

I deleted my extremely long TBR list recently on GoodReads as it was stressing me out. So I am a big fan of your spring cleaning. 😃👌 Side note: my trick was to convince myself that if a book is meant to be, it will find me. 😂
My list has grown since then and it will need regular pruning so it doesn’t get out of hand. I want to keep it smallish with a variety of genres as I am a moody reader. But still small so I can easily see it. Anyway, that’s the plan.. ask me again in a year’s time.. 😂🙈

Gosh that’s very bold- I don’t know if I’d ever be brave enough to do that! But I also sometimes get stressed by all the books I have to read, so I totally relate!! That’s a great idea and attitude! I think that’s great! hahahaha I hope it goes well!! 😉 😂

Well there is the downside: my inner list loving bookworm is seriously crossed with me. 😂 But then the free spirited minimalist is full of joy.
There is no need to do such dramatic steps though, your spring cleaning approach is very inspiring and shows good balance. 😊👌

I really need to do a de-clutter of my TBR list. There are probably so many books on there that I no longer want to read or know I definitely will no longer read so why are they still there.
I can’t say any of the books you ended up removing are ones I’d recommend or even pick up myself. I’ve read Soundless and All the Wind in the World and definitely would not recommend them. I think I ended up rating them like two stars each or something.
The Love Interest I actually quite enjoyed, but it was nowhere near as good as I’d hoped so if one day you do decide to read it go in with lowered expectations. 🙂
Great post! 😀 ❤

Ahh yeah I do get that (the trouble I found was that there were so many cool books on there that I wanted to read 😉 )
Well that is *really* good to know- thank you so much!!
Ah yes, I feel like if I come across it one day, I might give it a go- because I do love the sound of it- but that’s good to know.
Thank you!! 😀 ❤

I get that, there’s a reason my TBR list is so unmanageable in the first place! 🙂
Well if you do decide to pick it up one day I hope you enjoy it, it is a good concept for a book. 🙂
That’s all right. ❤️

hehe oh well you know that’s making me tempted to put it back on again 😉 Honestly, I just hadn’t heard enough about it to put it on (and I’m not gonna put it back since you said that about the sequel lol 😉 )
Brilliant! 😀

The only book I recognized was Gathering Blue lol. I liked it because it gave me closure. I hated not knowing what happened to Jonas and Gabe lol
Hey! 20 is a lot of books. So good going! It’s something lol

I don’t know majority of these books so I’m glad you found them to delete. I have Storm Siren on my physical shelf cause I saw it at a library sales in great condition but I don’t think I’ll be reading it anymore since I haven’t touched it in ages, haven’t read too much YA these days and you deleted it without a second thought 😂😂 So that’s enough for me. My Goodreads list isn’t so bad; around 200ish or so but my physical shelves at home… Well let’s just say it’s double and then some cause I have issues. Hahaha.

hehe I so get that- honestly I just saw that the ratings were meh and didn’t feel that keen for the blurb, so just deleted it. If you do read it and like it I’d like to hear about it lol!! 😂😂 Well that’s really good! hahaha oh gosh I currently have a physical tbr of about 10 so you’re winning lol!!! That is so impressive!!!

Oh man, I applaud on the task of going through that TBR. I think I have well over 1k books on it and sometimes wonder how many books I’d end up taking off without any seconds thoughts today hahah The only book I truly recognize out of this is that sequel to The Giver and I too would have been on the fence about the idea of reading the rest of the quartet! I feel like it might be asking for disappointment or something! 😮

Great post!! I’ve been slowly getting rid of alot of books on my TBR that I know I’m not going to end up reading. And its a shame about The Love Interest. I was really excited for it but every review I’ve seen has been pretty negative so I took it off my TBR too.

Thank you! Yeah I’ve seen loads of people doing it in various ways and it looked like such a good idea. Yeah it is really a pity- but like you said, no one’s been especially positive about it, which is a shame!

Blood Song is at the very top of my TBR because so many told me it’s one of the best fantasy novels ever, but of course, if the synopsis isn’t your thing…(you do you 😉 ) And yeah, I don’t think the sequels to The Giver are as good (the third one is heartbreaking though), and the last book was a straight up NO for me lol.

Oh by the way, twenty books is a great start to your cleaning I think! I myself can’t remove books from my TBR if someone were to put a gun to my head lol…

Oh great job – I really should do that as well! I am really on the fence about The Love Interest – I was anticipating this book last year, it sounded amazing, but since then I have seen many, many mixed reviews about it and I’m just not sure about it anymore. I think I’ll get rid of it, eventually, someday haha when I’ll try and do a little spring cleaning as well haha 🙂

This is a fantastic idea! I’m wondering if you keep your TBR list on a site like goodreads or if there are even more social media sites for readers of which I am unaware. Regardless, congrats on the minimizing even if it was only a mini minimize =)

Good on you for cleaning out your TBR! I think it’s great that you didn’t even have to think twice about removing some of those books and I honestly didn’t even know any of them except for the Love Interest. I remember reading some good reviews for it, so not as many ugh ones as you, but I totally get why you wouldn’t want to necessarily dive into that one anymore as well. You go for being able to do some spring cleaning 😀

This post kind of has me running around in circles because some of those books make me want to check them out and possibly add them to my tbr, while I also truly like the idea of a spring clean and my tbr is long overdue one good dusting! 😀